Disabled woman needs help a second time

Updated 9:17 pm, Saturday, November 30, 2013

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Chevon Robertson, 35, center, and her children, Edmund, 13, from left, a sixth-grader at Escamilla Intermediate, Kyra, 14 months, and Precious, 11, a fourth-grader at Oleson Elementary, team up for a holiday photo. less

Chevon Robertson, 35, center, and her children, Edmund, 13, from left, a sixth-grader at Escamilla Intermediate, Kyra, 14 months, and Precious, 11, a fourth-grader at Oleson Elementary, team up for a holiday ... more

Photo: Jerry Baker, Freelance

Disabled woman needs help a second time

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Chevon Robertson was pregnant and afflicted with diseases that disabled her when in January 2012 she was forced from her home. She had to drop out of college, close her day care business and go to a shelter along with her children.

For her entire life, the 35-year-old has suffered from a long list of health problems including: migraines, high blood pressure, severe muscle spasms and a heart condition. Then in 2010 she was diagnosed with degenerative joint disease, which affects the joints and bones and restricts movement.

Robertson was approved last year for Social Security disability benefits, but providing for Edmund, 13, Precious, 11, and Kyra, 1, continues to be a struggle.

Unable to work and without any financial help from her ex-husband, Robertson and her children get by on Social Security, food stamps and other assistance.

This year, Robertson will count on the Houston Chronicle's Goodfellows program, which provides toys for children whose families need help due to unemployment, illness or other family circumstances. The Goodfellows helped Robertson in 2005.

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How to donate

To contribute and learn more about the Goodfellows toy drive, please visit chron.com/goodfellows or call 713-362-2273. Checks can be sent to Goodfellows, c/o Houston Chronicle, 801 Texas Ave., Houston, TX 77002.

"They blessed me richly," Robertson said. "They gave my children clothes and toys. It was a great Christmas."

After she opened her own day care, Robertson said she didn't need anymore help from Goodfellows. This year, however, has been tough.

"I just got out of the hospital about a month ago for weakness in my legs," she said.

Her three children suffer from asthma and require frequent visits to the doctor.

"This time of the year is hard because I can't do for my children financially," she said. "I can't buy gifts for them, and, you know, when they go back to school each year they make them write a paper on what they got for Christmas, and I'd hate if they got nothing to write about."

Edmund loves basketball and video games. He said he dreams of having a PlayStation.

"I can't afford the game system, and I can't afford the games. They're pricey," his mother said.

Instead, Edmund and his two sisters draw and color together.

Precious said she would like to get a Barbie doll house or a bike.

"I want a bike, too," Edmund said from across the room.

Robertson hopes to go back to college by taking courses online and earn a bachelor's degree in business.

"I'd like to get my associate's and bachelor's, maybe even my master's if I could because then I'd be the first college graduate in my family," she said. "That would be a great milestone to inspire other people that have different types of disabilities that think that that's the end of their lives because they're home-bound, but it's not. Now with computers you can do everything from home."